Mumbai: Judge slams Tardeo cops for senior citizen's arrest

A Sessions court judge recently pulled up the Tardeo police for wrongly arresting a 75-year-old woman for electricity theft, despite having paid her dues

A Sessions court judge recently pulled up the Tardeo police for wrongly arresting a senior citizen in an electricity theft case, even after she had paid her fine. The judge reprimanded the police for not following the rules and even threatened to issue a contempt notice against the guilty officers.

Mehboobi Shahzad (75) was summoned to the police station on several occasions, even after paying her bills. Pic/Shadab Khan

According to 75-year-old Mehboobi Shahzad’s grandson, Mubarak Khan (32), the family had procured an illegal meter in his grandmother’s name, but hadn’t paid the electricity dues. On January 28, the Tardeo police had called him and his grandmother to the station, and asked them to clear the fine amounting to R48,000. “After selling all our jewellery and borrowing some money, we managed to pay the fine on February 3,” said Khan.

Khan said he also went to the police station and submitted a copy of the paid bill. The investigating officer told him to bring his grandmother to the police station, when ordered. Khan said police called for Shahzad, who suffers from diabetes and several heart-related complications, twice after that. She was once again asked to present herself on April 21, and was made to wait at the police station for over four hours, before being taken to Nair Hospital to get medical tests. “The cops told me not to tell the doctor that I suffer from diabetes. From here, they took me to court,” Shahzad alleged.

At the court hearing, Shahzad’s lawyer Mujeeb Khan Pathan told the judge that despite the accused having paid the bill a long time ago, she was shown as an absconding accused when arrested. Sessions judge SM Bhosale then pulled up the police for not following the rules laid out by the high court and handling the case irresponsibly. The judge also threatened to issue a contempt notice against the police.